Battle Creek girl's killer gets 39 to 80 years in prison

Tatum set house on fire after argument

9:37 PM,
Jan. 13, 2014

Jesse Tatum enters the courtroom Monday before he was sentenced to prison.

Written by

Jesse Tatum apologized for killing a little Battle Creek girl but then was sentenced to nearly four decades in prison.

Tatum, 25, told Calhoun County Circuit Court Judge Conrad Sindt on Monday that he didn't know Karrina Johnson, 8, was inside a home he set on fire on Nov. 29, 2012. But then Sindt sentenced Tatum to 39 to 80 years in prison.

"I want to apologize to the family," he said. "I didn't know she was in there." ...